Definitions:
Avatar: an incarnation or embodiment of another person, including an electronic embodiment in cyberspace. Avatars are agent or character representations that appear in a virtual world representing the user.
Metaverse: an imaginary, computer-generated universe.
Using a sci-fi adventure story set in the future as background, the author presents the implications of multiple sovereign societies i.e. "franchulates" coexisting in a world where information is the key form of exchange. Relationships between these f ranchulates are governed by the creation, distribution and collection of information. Status is not determined by capital wealth per se but by the amount of information one controls, has access to and can sell to others. People who have the wherewithal to escape the conformity of their daily lives or wish to interact with individuals from other societies do so by entering a place called the Metaverse. Once inside, they can relate to each other and the environment in whatever virtual body i.e. avatar they have created for themselves.
This story is told through the eyes of two principal characters; a samurai sword-wielding, software hacker named Hiro Protagonist who delivers pizza for a living and a teenage girl professional courier (messenger), Y.T. who delivers packages on a high- tech skateboard. During the course of delivering pizzas and packages they meet and agree to work together gathering information to sell. They are inadvertently drawn into the evil plans of a rich and powerful businessman (L. Bob Rife) when one of Hiro's friends becomes "infected" with an information virus (Snow Crash) while in The Black Sun (a hip, members-only club in the Metaverse). L. Bob Rife intends to control the minds of the unsuspecting population by distributing this virus both as a drug among the general population and a computer virus through the metaverse. The Snow Crash virus is based upon an ancient Summerian legend about the nature and power of language and understanding among humans. Hiro and Y.T. are in a race to determine what his plans are and how to stop him. Others from various franchulates also join in attempting to stop L. Bob Rife. Hiro and Y.T. visit many places both real and virtual in an atte mpt to piece together the information which will give them an "antidote" to this virus. As they get closer to L. Bob Rife, Y.T. is taken to his floating city (The Raft). Hiro appears there to find another friend and in the ensuing chase, follows the bea rer of the virus into The Black Sun where Hiro manages to release the antidote in time to stop the virus. L. Bob Rife, in turn, meets his denouement while attempting to flee California.
Aiding Hiro in his efforts to stop the release of Snow Crash are the Metaverse and the Library. In the Metaverse Hiro visits The Black Sun to gather information from key figures he meets there and to release the antidote for the virus. He uses The Li brary located in his Metaverse home to do most of the investigative analysis he needs to solve the puzzle of Rife's plans. The Library uses a computer-generated "Librarian" to provide all of the searching and information Hiro requires. What is most inte resting is that the Librarian interacts with Hiro in conversational speech, makes jokes, and answers questions based upon the facts it uncovers.
Those of you interested in how some of the current trends in communications and virtual world building might affect society and how we may interact with each other should find this an interesting and fun read. The relatively new field of memetics as related to the plot line of this story offers some interesting and thought-provoking ideas on how information technology is and can be used to influence individuals. In addition, the notion of an as sistant that can interact with us as a human would provides some insight into how we as humans see computers in the future.